The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place is the third studio album by American post-rock band Explosions in the Sky, released on November 4, 2003,[3] through Temporary Residence Limited.

Explosions in the Sky is composed of Mike Smith and Munaf Rayani on guitars, Michael James on bass, and Christopher Hrasky on drums, with the album being produced by John Congleton.

Originally known as Breaker Morant, Explosions in the Sky was formed in 1999 in Austin, Texas by Mike Smith and Munaf Rayani (guitars), Michael James (bass), and Christopher Hrasky (drums).

[2] Songs like "First Breath After Coma", "Memorial" and "Your Hand in Mine" suggest "personal or collective reactions to crises", according to scholars of September 11-related music Joseph Fisher and Brian Flota.

[12] Hartley Goldstein of Pitchfork compared the album to their previous one, saying that it was much warmer and "laced with an intense yearning for optimism in the face of horrific circumstance.

"[8] The album opens with "First Breath After Coma", starting with a sound that "captures a moment of awakening"[2] with a guitar that mimics "the incessant nerve-wracking electrical beeps of a hospital heart monitor".

[8] Johnny Loftus of AllMusic referred to "Memorial" as the "meditative heart" of the album, saying that "it begins so quietly, reduced to brittle landscapes of tone.

Then, like each of the album's movements, it surges forward in a rush, like the overtures of Sonic Youth separated, dried, and ultimately lengthened in the blistering Texas sun.

"[2] The inside sleeve of the album depicts "a sketch of lifeless autumnal leaf wistfully tumbling in the air, only to transform into the body of a fluttering dove.

[2] The Guardian praised the album, calling the tracks "tunes that twinkle and thunder like exploding stars, and show that there are still infinite possibilities in two guitars, bass and drums.